


Just Kim and the Hunt: A Marinette Wager

by MATurity_LIES



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 12:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30123108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MATurity_LIES/pseuds/MATurity_LIES
Summary: During the first year of Collège Kim and Alix made a wager. If Kim wins, he gets Alix’s rollerblades. If Alix wins, Kim will be prohibited from making another dare for the rest of the school year. September rolls around and it’s their second year of Collège and the “no dares” ban has officially been lifted.First day back and Marinette had a rough night. Akuma attack. She didn’t end up sleeping so she’s early for once, ridiculously so. Kim catches her collapsed on the steps, face buried in her pink bag on her lap.In a lapse of judgement, Marinette dares Kim to find Hawkmoth for her.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 75





	Just Kim and the Hunt: A Marinette Wager

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChaoticNeutral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNeutral/gifts).



> https://determinedlearningcrusade.tumblr.com/post/617409171651985408/
> 
> Teenage girls mention murder a lot. Y’know, between talk of boys and fashion and literal superheroes I can imagine Alya and Marinette staying up late one night and talking about how they would dispose of Hawkmoth or the moral intricacies of being a superhero.
> 
> _“Bring me Hawkmoth’s head on a pike then we’ll talk.”_  
>  Kim perks up. “Is that a dare Dupain-Cheng?”  
> “Sure.”

Kim walks up to school to find Marinette thirty minutes early collapsed on the metal stairs and squished off to one side. She’s buried her face in her backpack, hugged close to her chest, pigtails tangled, bangs sticking up. She doesn’t even have her traditional blazer and white shirt, just a hastily thrown on tank top and comfy sweatpants. Kim suspects that they’re last night’s pajamas.

He unceremoniously squats down in front of her and says, “You look awful.” 

Marinette groans. “ _Thanks_. It’s the all-nighter.” 

He snorts. “Designing?” 

She whips her head up and hisses. “ _Akuma_.” 

Kim laughs at that, taking in the full brunt of Marinette’s deep eyebags and the crusting drool on her cheek. Kim swipes at the corners of his mouth, motioning to her face. “You’ve got a bit of- yep, you’ve got a bit of drool there.” Marinette scowls, digging out her water bottle, struggles with the lid, dumps a bit of water in her palm and scrubs her face. Face wet, she glances up at him. He nods. Marinette grumbles and tugs her collar up to dry her face, cringing at her damp shirt. Kim reaches up to squish her cheeks. “Aww, poor Nettie. How can I help?” 

“Bring me Hawkmoth’s head on a pike then we’ll talk.” 

“That’s illegal.” 

“Like that’s ever stopped you before.” 

“Now that’s just cruel.” 

Marinette levels him with an unfocused stare. “...I don’t think you can.” 

Kim perks up.

"What was that?"

"I don't think you can."

“Is that a dare Dupain-Cheng?” 

“Sure.” Her head falls forward.

“What do I get?” 

Muffled in her bag, she says, “Hand-delivered pastries, fresh, every first break for the rest of the school year.” And as an afterthought, “And my workout regime.” 

He eyes her toned arms and nods. “You got a deal.”

At the first lunch bell, Kim sidles up beside Marinette who is trailing behind the others. Alya glances back, motioning that she’ll go ahead with the boys. “We’re gonna walk Adrien to his car.” Marinette waves her off. 

“Y’know I don’t think I can decapitate a Supervillain. Murder isn’t very poggers and I don’t know how to get bloodstains out of clothes.”

She snickers. “Wash it by hand with cold water and a bar of soap before you throw it in the washing machine.” 

Kim blinks. “How-” “-Woman.” “Ah.” “But I’d be satisfied if you just figured out his identity and I dunno, hand him over to Ladybug. I want to sleep for a week.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s some kind of disease. What’s-it’s-face it starts with n - Max!” Kim yells over his shoulder. 

“Yes Kim?”

“What’s that disease called? Where your sleep schedule is screwed. Starts with an n!”

“Narcolepsy.”

“-Narcolepsy! Do you have Narcolepsy?”

Marinette stares at him blankly. She blinks once. Twice. And groans. “ _Aaaalllllyaaaaaaaa-_ ”  
Alya, from across the courtyard, pushes past the boys and scrambles to scoop Marinette into her arms. “Yes? What’s wrong girl? Has Kim been bullying you? I’ll stomp his dick. Just say the word and I’ll scrape his pea brain out of his skull by the ears.”

Dramatically, Alya and Marinette coo at each other.

“Max. Girls are terrifying.”

“I know Kim.” A beat. And then, “Did you know that most caught female serial killers only get caught because they are accomplices to men? Male serial killers are nearly six times more likely to kill a stranger on impulse. This typically makes them sloppier than their female counterparts who kill someone they are familiar with- such as a family member or partner for sympathy and/or financial gain.”

“This doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Alya grins. “So Max, what you’re saying is that women are objectively better?”  
“At committing murder and getting away with it? That is precisely what I’m saying.”

“Move over Kim, Himbo’s are tired. We need booksmart men who can literally say that women are better at murder and give me legit percentages.”

“Only fifteen percent of the caught serial killers are female.”

Alya cheers.

Nino deadpans at Adrien. “I see that I am the side chick.”

“Don’t worry bro, you’ll always be number one bro.”

“Ladybug.”  
“That’s why I said bro.” Adrien opens the door. “C’mon Nino, keep up.”

He rolls his eyes. “At least I lost to Marinette. Everyone loves Marinette.”

Adrien shrugs and slides into the back. “See you later man.”

“Later.”

At the other table, Kim distantly hears Rose gush over the new girl’s connection with Prince Ali. They met at some charity event? Weird.

* * *

His mum’s didn’t need much convincing to let him start online schooling - Max’s suggestion - after he said he wanted to spend more time helping Marinette with something. It took a week for all the arrangements to go through.

While he was still there, M Agreste and Adrien’s driver both got akumatized. He found out through an article linked on twitter. Adrien jumped off a building to get away, Chat Noir wasn’t there and Ladybug caught him thirty meters in the air.

Kim had never seen someone straight up _die_ before. He doesn’t think getting zapped and turned into energy counted as dying. Before now, akuma attacks have just been an annoyance. Seeing how close Adrien - his classmate - was to becoming a pancake on the floor had him reaching for his tablet and making an action plan.

His phone pings. A text from Chloe. A party? This is bound to end in disaster. Checking the time he has three hours to make a plan.

* * *

Plan A: Make Akumatized Villain take him to their leader.

 _Apparently_ , charging at Villain’s isn’t very effective. Especially when they can leap buildings or minion him in one zap. The bear thing at Chloe’s party wasn’t very talkative and most of the other Akuma attacks happened at night. 

The one that didn’t happen at night couldn’t even speak and the next one after that was just plain mean. When Chat Noir caught him, Ladybug lectured him for throwing himself into the battle. It’s very distracting and can get others hurt. Chat Noir adds something about remembering the terror of getting turned, which makes Ladybug make this sad face at them both and it haunts him.

So yes, Kim has been thoroughly lectured and will not chase Akuma battles ever again.

Oh, and they let him slide down Chat Noir’s pole to get him back onto the floor. Little wins.

When he gets home, Kim scribbles Plan A out.

* * *

Plan B: Catch Akuma (the butterfly.)

Kim stares blankly ahead, watching children run back and forth the park with the interest of someone watching a trail of ants, butterfly net strewn across his lap and a creeper kit in his pocket. One of the kids is this orange haired boy chasing after the other kids. The kid he’s chasing heads for the log decorations. The seven cylindrical logs that stand upright in a row, each one taller than the last before slowly getting shorter again. The kid scampers up the logs and then down.

The orange haired boy clears the first two logs, gets his foot caught on the third and promptly wipes out.

Kim snorts.

The kid starts _bawling_. His parents rush to comfort him and Kim’s eyes scan the horizon, one hand tightening around the butterfly net as a little purple butterfly flutters close. His other hand in his hoodie pocket, on his phone, pressing record.

 _There!_ Kim presses forward and swipes at the air, channelling every negative emotion pent up after a whole year of bottling it all up. Every failed test, every broken bone he couldn’t cry over, interrupted plans, every time he hesitated to ask his crush out, every time his friends shoved down their emotions and every time he misses that _stupid_ \- 

He catches the butterfly and his mind goes blank. “...Hawkmoth?”

Hawkmoth clears his throat. “How astute, yes, I am Hawkmoth. You are… Kim, correct?”

Fear lodges itself in his throat. A lump of sponge. It makes mis mouth dry. _How did he know?_ He laughs shakily. “I see my reputation precedes me.”

“Yes… it has. You have been trying to contact me. I admire your tenacity. The Bourgeois girl again? Another girl? Perhaps it’s not romance issues at all, Kim, whatever is troubling you, I am here to help. All I ask in return are the Miraculous.”

“Yeah? You’d help me with anything?”

“Anything.”

A wave of _yes yes yes yes_ goes through him. It takes Kim everything he has to stamp down the impulse to agree with everything he says. He pictures that fat old coot M Damocles and all the righteous disobedience he has when he suspended him over something he already fixed.

“I don’t know how much I want romantic advice from you. Last time you tried to help you dressed me up pretty stupid, in front of the daughter of a _fashion_ director. Have you ever even had a girlfriend? Is that why you want the Miraculous? To impress a girl? Like, what’s more impressive than one of a kind magical jewellery?”

Hawkmoth growls.

Kim ducks his head. "What was that?”

“Wife.”

“You want the Miraculous for your wife?”

“Why did you seek me out?”

“Oh- uh- it was a dare.”

Hawkmoth cuts the connection leaving Kim disoriented. There’s empty space where Hawkmoth once was and he sinks to the floor. The pressure on his temples left so quickly he feels a bit like he’s floating. Like he dove in too deep and came back up too fast. His eyes are open but it’s still too blurry for him to see. For now, he’ll pretend the water in his eyes is from the pool despite being completely dry.

He grabs for his phone and squints at the screen. He clicks the stop button on the voice recording and sends it to Alya before he can regret it.

He already regrets it.

His hands itch to delete the message before it goes through. He plays it back through his wireless earbuds and listens for his own voice. He didn’t know he could sound that mean.

He calls Alya before he can feel bad about it. “Ladyblogger!”

“Kim! What’s up?”

“Who do you think Hawkmoth is?”

There were a few adults around, concerned and lingering to ask if he was okay. They fled though, along with the ones who ushered their children away when he took the Akuma.

“Out of everyone in Paris?”

“Out of every middle-aged man in Paris with a wife that doesn’t love him. Apparently he’s trying to get the Miraculous for her? Something real weird is going on there.”

“A _wife_? Yikes, I feel real bad for her.” She smirks, “Do you think the whole Supervillain thing is him throwing a temper tantrum because his wife ran for the hills?”

“ _Ha!_ ” Less dizzy, Kim opens the creeper keeper, transferring the butterfly from the net to the little plastic container. “You bet?”

“On my blog - _I don’t actually, I love my blog like my child, I’m not giving you my child Kim_ \- speaking of, think he’s got a kid?”

“Definitely. He gives bad dad vibes. And like, he akumatizes a lot of kids. Did you notice that?”

“Uhm, off the top of my head is Mayor Bourgeois, Alix’s dad, Juleka’s dad and Gabriel Agreste.”

“Not Alix’s dad. He’s like, _cool_ cool. Just busy. He and Alix’s Ma had a clean divorce. I don’t think Juleka’s dad exists. Juleka doesn’t look like the type of person who is born. More like she appeared out of nowhere. I don’t know anything about Adrien’s dad. And Mayor Bourgeois is an idiot.”

“Fair point. BTDubs, how’d you get this info?”  
“I got Akumatized.”

“That checks out.”  
“I recorded me talking to him. I was wondering if you could listen to it.”

“Totally!”

Kim spies the white butterfly caught in his container and the slowly setting sun. “I gotta go. I need butterfly keeping supplies.”

Alya blinks as he hangs up. She’s sleeping over at Marinette’s. From the chaise she calls for Marinette who is working on a new blazer. “Y’know how Kim’s been hunting down Hawkmoth?”

“Mhm.” Marinette hums around the pins in her mouth.

“Kim got himself akumatized and found out Hawkmoth’s got a wife.”

Marinette spits. “He _what_?!”

Kim sets the little white butterfly in a butterfly cage the size of his torso with a couple of sticks and green leaves from the park. “I’m gonna call you Wifey. Yeah… _Wifey_.”

* * *

Plan C: Figure out who Hawkmoth is. (Double check with Alix and Chloe.)

While Alya searches her blog for clips, Kim does his own research. He searches Hero Fan Blogs for theories on Hawkmoth’s identity and finds one that catches his attention. Gabriel Agreste. Citing the fact that the Akuma caught Ladybug after Adrien jumped and _let her go_ seconds later. There’s several clips of Adrien falling and a blurry screenshot of the Akuma’s face, glowing purple just before Ladybug falls.

Later, Kim searches for Gabriel Agreste’s name and finds news articles talking about him re-emerging from his mansion for the Fashion event thingy. And, huh, ‘Gabriel and Adrien Agreste’s touching display of affection on stage?’ Sus.

He calls to ask Alix what she thinks of the article. “You’re rich, right? And you’ve seen him at those rich people Galas?”

“I guess M Agreste has never been friendly, but _Hawkmoth_?”

“Here - read this. I’ve had a couple of theories bookmarked but when I checked them again they were gone. Taken down for libel. I copied a couple into the google doc I just sent.”

On the other end Alix goes silent. “...Be careful.”

“Yeah.”

Kim catches Chloe leaving for lunch and asks if she thinks Gabriel Agreste could be Hawkmoth.

“What?”

“I’m serious. I’m like, seventy percent sure. His wife went missing a couple months before Hawkmoth appeared. And we all know he’s not, he’s not like a great dad. Pulling Adrien out of school for a lost book? Adrien’s said that he barely sees him ‘n that his dad spends most of his time in his office. Who’s to say he doesn’t have a secret lair hidden in there?”

Chloe squints at him. “Well. That’s not… totally ridiculous.”

“Right?”

“If you’re planning on doing something you should keep this quiet. And you should tell Ladybug.” Her ride pulls up. She goes to leave before doubling back. “And don’t tell Adrien.”

“ _Obviously_.”

She purses her lips and gives him a clipped nod. “If Adrien gets akumatized you die.”

Kim gives her a half-hearted salute and runs off to find Alya.

Plan C a: Find out where he lives.

Agreste mansion. And his office, apparently.

Three days later, Alya turns up with a cleaned up clip that shows Adrien jumping, the Akuma catching Ladybug, and Hawkmoth’s mask appearing on the Akuma’s face before it lets her go.

Ondine gets Akumatized and that’s the closest he gets to successfully executing Plan A: getting an Akuma to take him to their leader. She’s at least apologetic about it when she refuses. She was also very polite when she threatened to drown him.

Plan C b: Find Hawkmoth’s secret base.

Supposedly, M Agreste will be spending two weeks in Tokyo for a business trip. Supposedly. Kim calls BS. But first: revenge. He calls Nino in on his plan to throw Adrien a huge party. For serotonin.

The only flaw in their plan is one of Adrien’s friends (one they didn’t know about) getting Akumatized over being excluded. It’s less of a flaw when he gets a Miraculous, and Wayhem gets in anyways. They slipped past Adrien’s guard when he was escorting everyone out. Wayhem had wanted to check the place out a little longer, Kim looks for evidence and Luka tags along as their babysitter. Kim has Xuppu mess with the cameras - he puts out the power for the whole neighbourhood. They find a secret passageway in M Agreste’s office. 

Plan C c: Butterfly net, rope and socks. (Also Miraculous???)

And so Kim is left sitting around, waiting for an Akuma to attack. It’s been three days already. Hawkmoth usually attacks every other day. And like clockwork, the Akuma Alert pings. Armed with a butterfly net, rope and his balled up socks, Kim heads down to the Agreste mansion transformed.

* * *

Now that Hawkmoth is tied up gagged - thank you socks - Kim texts Alya, telling her to grab Ladybug’s attention. Alya hurriedly ends the stream and calls the heroes down. Hawkmoth moves. Kim swats the man’s shoulder and shifts on his back. He’s gagged, he can’t monologue about how this fourteen year old boy is intentionally sitting on him a little heavier. 

Kim opens up Alya’s blog, finding the latest stream and skipping to the end. Apparently, when he messed with Hawkmoth’s powers it affected the Akuma, automatically cleansing it. Kim snickers over Hawkmoth’s Akuma fixing the damage it did.

On Alya’s end, she tells the Heroes exactly what Kim just texted her. “I defeated Hawkmoth. Come to the Agreste mansion.”

Ladybug sighs. “I can’t believe he did it for Dupain-Cheng pastries.”

“Are you kidding?” Chat laughs. “I believe it.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by a tumblr post from like, a year ago that I had reblogged. It's wildly different from what it originally was and not 10K but I'm so relieved it's out.
> 
> The timeline is generally the same, I just shoved the Party Crasher episode like, eight months early. 
> 
> I like to think that Kim’s butterfly, Wifey, was taken in as evidence next to the many butterflies in Gabriel’s basement and tested just to be sure that they’ve got the same type of butterflies. Yes, Adrien did laugh at the name and yes, Kim did change Wifey’s name to Emme and yes, Adrien did cry. Chloe was ready to murder Kim until Adrien confirmed they were happy tears.


End file.
